Thanks to Trump, San Antonio loving Stephen Colbert

According to recent San Antonio ratings surveys, S.A. viewers are warming more and more to the political humor of CBS’ Stephen Colbert over the fun-and-games Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The reason? He consistently takes on Trump and his over-the-top tweets. less

According to recent San Antonio ratings surveys, S.A. viewers are warming more and more to the political humor of CBS’ Stephen Colbert over the fun-and-games Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The reason? He consistently ... more

Photo: Richard Shotwell /Associated Press

Photo: Richard Shotwell /Associated Press

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According to recent San Antonio ratings surveys, S.A. viewers are warming more and more to the political humor of CBS’ Stephen Colbert over the fun-and-games Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The reason? He consistently takes on Trump and his over-the-top tweets. less

According to recent San Antonio ratings surveys, S.A. viewers are warming more and more to the political humor of CBS’ Stephen Colbert over the fun-and-games Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The reason? He consistently ... more

Photo: Richard Shotwell /Associated Press

Thanks to Trump, San Antonio loving Stephen Colbert

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Stephen Colbert is on a late-night roll, not just nationally, but also in San Antonio.

Yes, the man who had previously taken a backseat to his only 10:30 p.m. talk competitor here, Jimmy Fallon, finally seems to be making consistent headway. (ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel is delayed a half-hour for KSAT’s popular 10 p.m. news hour.)

In the last four local sweeps periods, from November through July, the CBS host has passed his NBC competitor in household audience numbers, supplied by KENS and KSAT.

The reason for his improved ratings? Easy: President Trump.

Colbert always has been the host with the most when it comes to lampooning politics — specifically, the chin-droppers that seem to come daily from America’s leader. Though Fallon has commented on Trump’s moves recently, he is known more for entertainment and fun-and-games with guests.

Nazis, white supremacists, North Korea, Russia, the constant musical chairs at the White House, all have been great fodder for Colbert monologues since November’s election.

In May, when the Russia probe was on everyone’s lips, Colbert, who took the President to task nightly, enjoyed a nice-size lead in San Antonio. According to final ratings supplied by KENS, Colbert drew a 2.1 to Fallon’s 1.8.

Colbert was especially thrilled when Trump called him out in a Time magazine interview during those same sweeps, characterizing Colbert as a “no-talent guy” who says “nothing funny.” Naturally, Colbert trumpeted the Trump insults on his show.

The local win continued in July, the most recent sweeps. Colbert held his lead with a 1.9 vs. Fallon’s 1.6. A ratings point equals 9,062 San Antonio-area households

It may not sound like much, but the latest numbers sure beat Colbert’s ranking of July, 2016; those ratings showed Fallon ahead by nearly a full ratings point. So, in San Antonio’s overall small-ratings late-night TV landscape, the improvement is stunning.

Naturally, CBS is thrilled by its host’s rise. “He’s brilliant,” CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl raved in an August Q&A with TV critics. Thom Sherman, the network’s executive VP of programming, added: “Stephen does what Stephen does. He has obviously found a voice vis-a-vis this administration.”

Colbert isn’t the only pundit who has benefited. “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (10 p.m. Sundays, HBO), which has been fiercely anti-Trump before and after the election, has risen in popularity, too. Moreover, host Oliver picked up a prime-time Emmy last September for Outstanding Variety Talk Program and is up for another next month.

But are these show’s writers grateful for the gift of Trump? Don’t bet on it.

“I don’t want this job,” groaned Christine Nangle of “The President Show” at a recent panel for television critics. Titled “Has Politics Made Late-Night Great Again?”, it featured writers from a sampling of the aforementioned programs.

“If Hillary Clinton was president, we’d just get in there on pantsuits and policies. I would give anything!” said Ashley Nicole Black, a writer and correspondent on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.”

Although they acknowledged there’s no shortage of material generated by this president, they also find it’s better to be selective and go beyond the obvious.

“I think one of the challenges is to try to avoid the low-hanging fruit, like, this person talks funny or has funny hair or something so easy,” said Nangle. “Speaking for ‘The President Show,’ we try to look at what goes deeper than all that insanity, like what made this man.”